Midwest Food Bank Responds to Flooding Disaster in the South

Fort Myers, Fl- The Illinois and Indiana Divisions of the Midwest Food Bank have responded to the disastrous flood conditions in Texas and Louisiana. Midwest Food Bank is a first hope responder with The Salvation Army to provide food and essentials during disasters. A call came in to Mike Hoffman, Director of Operations with Midwest Food Bank, that help was needed in Beaumont, TX and Shreveport, LA.The first semi-load was sent to Beaumont and the second load went to Shreveport. A third semi was then sent with an additional load for Beaumont.

Each box contains food and essential paper products for a family of four for 3-4 days. Each semi-load carries the capacity to serve 832 families in need. The boxes are assembled by volunteers at the Bloomington, Il, Peoria, IL, and Indianapolis, IN facilities of Midwest Food Bank. Volunteers also drive the loads to the various locations. Mike Hoffman said "When I spoke to the driver of the first load, he said when he got to Beaumont, the commander said he was excited to see the boxes and that as soon as they are unloaded they were going to put them in delivery trucks and get them out to people in need. They must have needed quite a few as they ordered the second load to Beaumont today."

With the additional needs of supplying food for disasters on top of the day-to-day help for local food pantries and agencies, the need increases to restock Midwest Food Bank. To donate to this effort, please click on this link. www.florida.midwestfoodbank.org

Midwest Food Bank began its journey in 2003 in Mclean County, Illinois meeting an immediate need of 10 agencies at that time. This need quickly grew and after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Midwest Food Bank grew again to serve even more of the non-profit community as well as establish its National Disaster Relief efforts. With locations in Illinois, Indiana, Georgia, Florida and East Africa, Midwest Food Bank has become an ultimate pass-through organization. Because of MFB's dependable volunteers, over 99% of donations go to program costs rather than administrative expenses.

Midwest Food Bank serves the non-profit community of Florida by distributing food at no cost to the recipient. Midwest Food Bank-Florida Division is located in the Billy Creek Commerce Industrial Park and opened its doors in the Fall of 2014. We currently serve over 50,000 individuals on a monthly basis. Our organization has achieved a 4-Star rating from Charity Navigator, a national non-profit watch-dog of over 8,000 national non-profits. This is Charity Navigators highest rating. For more information on Midwest Food Bank, please click on the link www.florida.midwestfoodbank.org